Simple RPG system?

[Glass Mouse]

Hey there all you nice, helpful forumites

I've been assigned the role of GM for one session. One of the players is experienced, while the two others didn't even know the concept of RPGing until we described it to them a few weeks ago.

I'm a player-recently-turned-GM who hasn't had a lot of experience with any RPG systems outside of D&D 3.5. Frankly, I'm getting a bit fed up with D&D's high fantasy feel, and I know the experienced player feels the same. Also, I'd like to run a session where the newbies can get a feel of actual roleplaying, without too many rules-explaining breaks.

So, my question becomes: Do you know of a super simple RPG system I could subject them to? I might take bits and pieces to create my own system, but anything - whether to plainly use or just for inspiration - would be highly appreciated.

Simplicity is a priority, all the way.
I'm not really sure if we're doing fantasy, sci-fi or horror. Either way, I'd like something semi-realistic when it comes to power levels (When you're charging forty people with guns, you die. Sorry.).

Any ideas? Great systems you'd like to spread?

Oh yeah, and if you have any general advice about introducing newbies to RPGing, spill it. My newbs will all be happier for it.

[dsmiles]

Call of Cthulhu is pretty straightforward and realistic in power levels, not exactly simple, though.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Bliss Stage

Advantages
(1) It is set roughly Present Day, Present Time wherever you happen to be living. So you can use a lot of RL knowledge in designing the world and RP is easier - you'll be playing teens & pre-teens who grew up in a world identical to this, up to this very day.

(2) It is a collaborative system. This means that everyone has a part in getting the game set up (less burden on the DM), and everyone gets a little DMing. This will let completely new gamers get a taste of both sides of the screen.

(3) It uses d3's. Fullstop. You won't need to buy dice, and these d3's are part of a brilliantly simple system. Heck, you don't even use them for half the game

(4) It costs $13

[clockworkmonk]

The Unisystem is pretty simple, and quite robust. it has several games published, with the most popular seeming to be All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Its a Zombie horror survival game, and survival horror is where you want to go for lethal combat.

[jmbrown]

FUDGE or FATE. Both are free. I recommend FATE, which is built upon FUDGE, because it drops point attributes in favor of aspects. A fighter with strength 18 in FATE would actually be "Strong as an ox." Whenever a situation would call for him to perform a feat of great strength, he spends a FATE point to compel his aspect. The GM or the player can use their aspect to create an unfavorable situation for their character to gain FATE points. For example, the fighter above could challenge his aspect by saying he doesn't know the limits of his strength and accidentally breaks something or he might be strong but slow.

It's a fast, easy system to learn and pretty fun in execution.

[JeenLeen]

I've found the d10-based systems used in World of Darkness to be rather simple. There are some complicated things, but most of it is:

1. You want to do 'thing'
2. See how points you have in what can do 'thing'; call that x
3. Roll xd10
4. Set a difficulty based on how hard the task is. 6 = average. The number of rolls equal to the difficulty (ex. 6) is how many successes you roll. The more successes, the better you perform. (A '1' is a botch; -1 success, or fail miserably.)

A friend of mine is making a system based off d10 where all difficulties are 6, so it's just roll your dice pool of d10s and see how many equal 6 or more. (Modifiers effect the dice pool instead of the difficulty.)

EDIT: I do admit the settings and magic systems of WoD can be confusing and hard to master. But the dice mechanics are, IMO, rather straight-forward.

[A Ladder]

GURPS.

super amount of freedom. simple simple simple rules system.
can be applied to any situation (high fantasy, sci-fi, modern day, mixtures, etc).
3d6 system. everything uses 3d6. so easy to get people to "jump in" without having to explain what dice are.
I actually prefer it to D&D.

[Jayabalard]

I've always thought of D&D (in it's many incarnations) as a good entry-level RPG system. It's archetype based so you can get new people though a character creation very quickly, and the base mechanic of "roll D20" is pretty simple, so you can get them into a game after only explaining a few rules.


You could also do a game using GURPS; sure, GURPS has a lot of optional rules, but there's no real reason you'd need to use them. Character creation will be the toughest thing, since there aren't any classes (it's a point based system) and there are many many options. I'd suggest building a few templates for the new people to pick from, and kind of leading them through the process individually, or even asking them a few questions and pre-building characters for the first session. It only uses d6, with Roll 3d6, under target being the primary resolution mechanic, along with a "quick contest of X" where 2 people roll 3d6 under their target number, and whichever does better wins. It's a generic system so with the right books you can use it to play pretty much any genre.

You can download GURPS: Lite for free off of thier online store e23, and they've ported an old adventure module from 3e to 4e (current edition rules) called Caravan to Ein Arris, which is set in a no/low magic fantasy world that is also available for free.

GURPS: Lite is 32 pages, and of that, the first 21 are really devoted to character creation (stats, advantages/disadvantages, skills and quirks), and the other 11 cover: resolving physical/meantal actions (3 pages), combat (5 pages), illness/injury/fatigue (3 pages)

[Comet]

-Stuff about D&D and GURPS

Funny, since I always thought that those two games were exactly the ones I wouldn't give to a beginner as "simple".

Okay, D&D is workable but I never managed to wrap my head around GURPS. Might be just me, though.

I've had good experiences with the New World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, Dark Heresy and some relatively unknown games that I won't even bother to mention here because you guys won't know what I'm talking about anyway.

[clockworkmonk]

I'm quite curious now as to what systems you mean. Personally, I go out of my way to learn about different systems, and would like to hear some names.

[Yuki Akuma]

Risus.

It uses d6s and only d6s. You get ten to start with, and arrange them among any number of Clichés. A Cliché is basically a character class (so, Bard, Druid, Astronaut, Biker...). You can put up to 4 dice in any one cliché at character creation.

To do something, roll the Cliché that's most appropriate against a Target Number set by the GM. To fight, you roll whatever Cliché is most appropriate for the fight (which can be physical combat, courtroom antics, seduction, convincing a vending machine to give you that damn soda you paid for..), and the defender rolls a Cliché. Loser loses one die. First to 0 dice in a Cliché loses (dies, is prosecuted, ends up in bed, gives up its tasty treasures...)

Almost best part? It's six pages long.

Best part? It's free.

Risus can be serious and realistic... if you insist. You don't even need house rules, because the consequences of combat are always entirely up to the victor - so the GM can kill them when they lose just fine.

[Premier]

D&D. No, really. Specifically, Original D&D, the 1974 edition. It's totally simple, it's built around concepts you're already familiar with, and its retro-clone Swords & Wizardry can be downloaded for free from here.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Wurthering Heights RPG is pretty damn simply and very easy for newbies to get the hang of the idea of roleplaying.

[Stegyre]

It's quite old and probably only available with a search on the internet, but it's hard to beat The Fantasy Trip for a simple, quick to understood, yet fun and reasonably realistic game. It also provides for gradually increasing complexity: begin with just fighters and the Melee or Advanced Melee rules. Add magic and magical characters with Wizard or Advanced Wizard. Add skills with In the Labyrinth.

TFT also has the advantage of some pre-published solo adventures: Treasure of the Silver Dragon, Treasure of the Unicorn Gold, Death Test, Death Test II, Orb Quest, Grail Quest, Security Station. Fun to play as a group (using the oh-so-dreaded DMPC!) or with minor adaptation as a DM-run campaign.

GURPS is really just expanded (and complicated) TFT. (Steve Jackson was the original designer of both.) To the extent your players like TFT and want to increase the complexity, GURPS would be a good option, or alternatively, you could look to GURPS for rules additions to your TFT campaign.

Link for more information.

[Cybren]

I would say actually to introduce most people to a more "crunchy" game than something rules light. A lot of people will be uncomfortable with 'roleplaying' so games that emphasize it by building the rules around dramatic appropriateness will seem alien and probably uncomfortable.

Go with D&D.

[Totally Guy]

Mouse Guard, Glass Mouse, Mouse Guard.



Actually it may look simple but it still takes a couple of nights to get to grips with. But it's very rewarding.

[Freylorn]

I'd give RISUS a spin. It's easy, free, uses only D6s, and you can slap a character on a post-it note with room to spare.

Plus, the entire rules document is like 6 pages long.

[Mando Knight]

...Oh, you wanted a realistic scale. Then I guess Munchkin is right out, even though it's a card game that's a parody of RPGs and has simple enough rules you can fit 'em on a single flowchart. Best of all, it comes in 9 flavors of fantastic play... Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Superheroes, Lovecraftian Horror, Asian Martial Arts flicks, Spy flicks, Pirates, Wild West, and Classic horror-flick Monsters.

[Glass Mouse]

Wow, I can hardly keep up with all this. You guys are great!

I'm reading and downloading (hurray for free systems and free Lite versions) all over the place. If nothing else, I'm gonna have a lot of cool RPGs to throw after my gamer friends!

Cybren, your point is noted. I like the idea of Risus but yeah, newbie players might like having a sheet to lean on. I'll keep that in mind (but still no D&D! I don't hate it or anything, it's just that we're gonna be 2 out of 4 who are really tired of that system - so, however good it is, I'd really prefer something else, and lighter).

...Oh, you wanted a realistic scale. Then I guess Munchkin is right out, even though it's a card game that's a parody of RPGs and has simple enough rules you can fit 'em on a single flowchart. Best of all, it comes in 9 flavors of fantastic play... Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Superheroes, Lovecraftian Horror, Asian Martial Arts flicks, Spy flicks, Pirates, Wild West, and Classic horror-flick Monsters.

Ooh, Munchkin! There are sooo many hours of fun in that game! However, I don't really think that's what the two newbies expect after all our talk of CoC and epic story moments

[erikun]

How simple? I mean, something like Faery's Tale is a very simple game to pick up and play, although perhaps not what you're looking for. FUDGE struck me as remarkably simple to play, just rolling dice with a single +/- modifier for each die. I'm not sure if the character creation is quite as easy as playing, though. Muntants and Masterminds might be a good idea, as the superhero theme is relatively easy to relate to and (with pre-genereated characters) relatively easy to understand what you can do.

Ultimately though, how well you can run the game matters more than how well the players can understand what dice to roll. You can always tell them what to roll, after all.

[mabriss lethe]

I think I just fell in love with Risus. That is such a brilliant system.

[Pigkappa]

I've found the d10-based systems used in World of Darkness to be rather simple.
[...]
EDIT: I do admit the settings and magic systems of WoD can be confusing and hard to master. But the dice mechanics are, IMO, rather straight-forward.

Yeah, you could just give them some human character sheets made by you, with a well-defined background, and start a session in the exact moment of their Embrace/Awakening/whatever-you-are-most-familiar-with. They will find that it is quite difficult to understand how disciplines or spells work, but their characters are new to these things to, so that's not a problem. It can be quite interesting.
You need to be comfortable with the rules of WoD and of their supernatural kind, otherwise it will all become a great mess.

[Yuki Akuma]

I think I just fell in love with Risus. That is such a brilliant system.

Every time I post a link to Risus, if even one person picks it up, I have accomplished my mission.

God bless you sir and/or madam.

[Satyr]

Unisystem was already mentioned, but is worth the repetition. It is like Gurps and D20 had a one night stand, and nine months later, their love child was born - in the form of the Unisystem.
Besides, Witchcraft, one of the Unisystem games (there are several others, All Flesh Must Be Eaten is probalby the best known one) can be downloaded for fre, so that every player with a computer can have his own copy of the rules.
Other simple yet fun games are the D6 games by West End Games (the old and yet unrivalled original Star Wars RPG used these rules. Simple, but ingenious), and Savage Worlds. While I truly think that the latter one is an overhyped piece of medicrity, it is cheap, simple and quick to learn or play.

Gurps is somewhat of a special case, because it is quite complex, but very intuitive and streamlined. At first, it may look like quite a challenge but once you understand how the system works, it works pretty much on its own and you don't have to invest too much thought in the system anymore. As a rule of thumb, in 9 out of 10 cases, you can usually replace any given rules in any given setting with the Gurps equivalent, and achieve a major improvement of the rules. The rules may not be the most superficial or abstract (which is often praised as simplicity, but usually only indicates the lack of options), they are based on the very simple yet ingenious idea that a good rule is ne which makes sense and is plausible.

I usually use Gurps for new players, for a very simple reason: The system allows very exactly to create dream wish characters. There are few limitations or hindrances in creating the character you ever wanted to play, and it almost always works. There iare only very very few "you can't do that' moments" which are oh so common in the straightjacket of the typical hidebound class systems, and the characters are by default pretty well rounded. It is a lot easier to create an interesting character in Gurps than in pretty much any other system I ever played (which are quite a lot by now).

And just to show how awesome Gurps can be: There is a small series of pdf documents, called Dungeon Fantasy. It is sixty pages or so, and it does everything D&D does, and then some. And it does it better. In every single regard.

[Knaight]

Risus is so brilliant. I love it, but it isn't my first choice, just because I have too much of a simulationist side that I can't get rid of.

Of course, I'm going to pimp Fudge again, and make a quick clarification. It is a system as simple as you want it to be, and borderlines a system building kit. There is a lot you can do, and I've seen people go as light as Risus, and to near D&D levels. Lightweight by default, almost always quick, and you can do a lot, and with a combat system that I think is a better simulation than any other game I've seen other than TRoS.

Furthermore, unlike Fate, it still has attributes, it isn't inherently narrative, and there isn't the confusion of narrative based rules. And its free, with a community that can help you with near anything.

[Freylorn]

Every time I post a link to Risus, if even one person picks it up, I have accomplished my mission.

God bless you sir and/or madam.

I actually believe you introduced me to Risus a good few months back. I never got the opportunity to thank you for it. So... thank you!

[Tacit]

I also state that RISUS is the way to go. If he wants to contineu roleplaying after your spin with that system, most of the oWoD products are good.

[Oslecamo]

And just to show how awesome Gurps can be: There is a small series of pdf documents, called Dungeon Fantasy. It is sixty pages or so, and it does everything D&D does, and then some. And it does it better. In every single regard.

Did Gurps inspire the creator of this website to create such a fantastic webcomic and where we can meet to have nice gaming chat?

Also for the OP, if you take 3.5, remove the magic classes and don't use magic-heavy monsters, and play low level, you get a nice simple gritty low fantasy setting. The LOTR party was two rangers, two fighters and four rogues after all.

[Roland St. Jude]

D&D. No, really. Specifically, Original D&D, the 1974 edition. It's totally simple, it's built around concepts you're already familiar with, and its retro-clone Swords & Wizardry can be downloaded for free from here.

Agreed. The online-accessibility of the S&W may make that a good choice, but if you have the Basic OD&D books, even better. I think it would give you great simplicity for the new folks and take the "high" out of the high fantasy, which would appeal to your more experienced players. Also, this edition may be quite a bit more rewarding for the DM, who gets to exercise a great deal more judgment.

[Satyr]

Okay, in every aspect related to gaming. The overal cultural impact of D&D is slightly higher.